A Week Away - Hooray!

The Christmas Spirit is hitting me! I'm so excited.
We're a week away from the big day and I couldn't be more excited. This year is pretty cool for us since we finally have a child who is understanding Christmas. He's loving the excitement and the presents and the stories of Santa. He gets really excited when we go to the mailbox and there are cards - especially ones for him.
I'm not really sure he understands that he will be getting presents. He knows Santa is cool, but he doesn't quite get the concept.
For instance, the other day I asked him how Santa was getting to our house. He told me that Santa would be on a snowboard and all his presents would be on the TTC. (with the reindeers going to Eglinton Station).
He just seems pretty excited about the fun stuff going on. And I'm loving that.
Of course, we are in gift shopping panic. I made a list and a budget and diligently followed it until I started wrapping and decided that we had not bought enough. So, sadly, I'm off shopping again. I finally sorted out my sister's gift. I think I'm done Mike's gift. I'm not sure that I've done enough for my in-laws. And I think my mom needs some more stuff.
I have to say, my mom and my sister are the hardest to buy for. I always want to get nice stuff, but it's hard to get the perfect things.
The other thing I'm totally looking forward to is Thursday night. Every year since I can remember my dad and I have gone "Christmas Eve Shopping". It's a tradition I love. My dad has always been a last minute guy when it comes to Christmas. And he is utterly convinced, or at least was, that the best deals are the 'flashing blue light specials' on Christmas Eve. No kidding. Kmart used to do this and we'd get some good stuff.
Kmart is no more, and I'm not convinced that there are still deep discounts in the days leading up to Christmas, but the tradition continues. We've moved it up by a few days, but we still do it.
We've had some momentous Christmas Eve shops. Probably the funniest was when we wandered around Dixie Outlet Mall when I was visibly pregnant. My dad is a super shopper, and can seriously power shop. He must have bought me 5 bottles of juice to keep me going. It was pretty funny. In the end we cut the day short and went to Jack Astors. Still it was fun.
This year I'm actually pretty good for gifts, so we will be covering a couple of key areas - stocking stuffers for the kids and stuff for my mom.
I'm the unofficial fashion guru when it comes to my mom's Christmas gifts. My mom prefers that stuff he buys meets my approval. That way we avoid fashion disasters on Christmas morning like the charming Santa Sweaters, baggy track pants, etc.
We usually start the evening off with dinner out. We are currently debating between Kelsey's and Swiss Chalet. My suggestion of the Zellers Diner (for efficiency) was quickly declined by my dad.
This year's shop should be extra exciting due to a new Winners in the mall will be going to. I can't wait. The evening is guaranteed to be fun-filled, coffee-filled and present filled. My dad will invariably suggest gifts that I would never in a million years come up with. We'll laugh, get good deals and in the end enjoy the one father-daughter outing that we have never ever cancelled.
Anyone else in the spirit???